Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Women’s clinic joining medical center
The Parkhill Clinic for Women in Johnson is moving across the interstate this weekend.
Starting Monday, the clinic will be the first health care provider in Washington Regional Medical Center’s new center for women and infants, which is expected to open fully by November, medical center spokeswoman Gina Maddox said. The Johnson clinic is set to close at noon Thursday, according to its website.
Parkhill provides obstetrician and gynecology services and last year delivered almost 2,000 babies, said Elaine Thompson, the clinic’s administrator. The move is meant to be more convenient for many patients and put them next to the medical center’s newly expanded intensive care facilities and Ronald McDonald House if needed, she said.
“We’re very excited, absolutely,” she said. “And parents will be able to stay with their babies in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), so that’s huge.”
Parkhill is leaving Northwest’s Willow Creek Care Center just west of Interstate 49. Thompson said Parkhill isn’t formally part of Northwest and simply leased the space, as it will at Washington Regional.
Northwest’s Pat Driscoll, vice president for marketing, declined to comment Wednesday afternoon on Parkhill’s move.
The clinic employs eight physicians and about 50 nurses and other employees who, for the most part, also work at the clinic’s location in Bentonville, Thompson said. The same team will work in the new Fayetteville location, she added.
Washington Regional broke ground on the five-story center in early 2015 to almost triple its neonatal intensive care to 34 beds and add more than 100,000 square feet to the hospital. The top floor will hold the Ronald McDonald House, where families of young patients can sleep and eat during treatment.
“Washington Regional looks forward to offering added services and
convenience for patients at our Women and Infants Center,” CEO Bill Bradley wrote in an email. “We are very pleased that Parkhill Clinic for Women, along with HerHealth Women’s Clinic, will form the nucleus for our exceptional women’s services,” he added, referring to another women’s clinic.
The expansion is one piece of a broader boost in children’s and women’s health care in the region. Arkansas Children’s Hospital plans to open a location in Springdale by 2018. Mercy Northwest Arkansas and Northwest Health System have also added intensive care beds and pediatricians to payroll in recent years.